The Seattle Seahawks are 0-1 after a terrible loss in Week to the Los Angeles Rams. They travel to Detroit to play an improving Lions team in Week 2 and Seattle is a banged-up bunch. Things don't look too good right now, do they?
But maybe we can just throw away what happened in Week 1. First games of each year can be weird. Sure, losing to an NFC West rival to begin the season and look horrible doing it isn't fun, but one game might not be indicative of how the rest of the season will go. Let's just see how the season goes a bit before passing real judgement.
But fans have lots of questions about the 2023 team and rightfully so. 12th Man Rising posed a question on social media about the biggest questions heading into Week 2. What follows are responses to three of the questions.
The Seattle Seahawks could be a bottom-five team
Are they really a bottom-five team or was that an anomaly? - Jacob S.
The "bottom-five team" part sounds rough until one does a little digging. FanSided's Russell Baxter had Seattle 27 in this week's power rankings. While 27 is actually the sixth-worst team in the NFL, it would simply be splitting hairs when one argues that Seattle didn't play like a bottom-five team in Week 1. The Seahawks looked inept in every phase of the game except punter Michael Dickson.
There are a few different ways of looking at this, of course. One is to simply forget what happened against the Los Angeles Rams as 1) the Rams always give Seattle fits, and 2) Week 1 can be weird for any team. Just ask the New York Giants. They lost 40-0 to the Dallas Cowboys. At least Seattle didn't look quite that bad.
Another way of looking at Seattle looking so bad is that, well...At least they will get a high draft pick in the 2024 NFL draft. I know that's not a great thought right now, but maybe there's some positivity to come from how Seattle's season might go. If you are a 12 that doesn't like Seattle's quarterback situation, the team could address that early in next year's draft. Or maybe a great defensive tackle? But let's hope the season turns around beginning in Week 2.
Seahawks could involve the tight ends more
How the offensive line will look with the injuries? Maybe 3 tight end sets coming. - Mike M.
The scary part is we still aren't completely sure what the Seahawks offensive line will look like at tackle in Week 2. Both left Charles Cross (toe) and right tackle Abraham Lucas (knee) are going to miss the game. Lucas is out for four more games after being placed on the injured reserve list after Week 1. Seattle signed aged veteran Jason Peters (he is 41 years old) this week to replace Cross eventually.
But that eventually might be as soon as Week 2. Peters will only have practiced a few times so how well he knows the offensive line calls is a mystery. While he is a future Hall of Fame player, he is also 41 years old and did not have any kind of training camp or preseason this year. He is basically getting off his couch and stepping in as a starter after only a handful of practices.
For much of the second half of Week 1, tackles Stone Forsythe and Jake Curhan replaced Cross and Lucas and they appeared to have gotten worse as the game went on. Seattle gained just 12 total yards in the second half - 9 coming on the final meaningless play of the game - and some of that blame comes with how poorly Forsythe and Curhan played.
So going with more three tight end sets makes sense, especially as one of those tight ends, Will Dissly, is a fantastic blocker. Colby Parkinson is an underrated blocker while Noah Fant, who clearly wasn't 100 percent and got zero pass targets against the Rams, could be an excellent target for Geno Smith. In fact, if offensive coordinator Shane Waldron is ultra-creative against the Lions, three tight end sets makes complete sense.
The Seahawks just changed their defensive coordinator before the 2022 season
Are we looking into the defense coaching? Might be time to dive into that. - Joe Missy A.
This question gets a lot more complex than it may first appear. The easy answer to the second part is that Seattle did just change their defensive coordinator from Ken Norton, Jr. to Clint Hurtt after the 2021 season ended. Hurtt has only been the DC for one full season and one game of 2023. Hurtt, though, has been on the defensive coaching staff in Seattle since 2017 so one would think the transition from Norton to Hurtt would have gone better.
In Norton's last season with the Seahawks (2021), the team was very good against the run but bad against the pass and couldn't get teams off the field on third down. In Hurtt's first season (2022) as DC with Seattle, the team switched to more of a 3-4 base and Seattle was terrible against the run and decent against the pass but also couldn't get teams off the field on thiird down. Another through-line with Norton to Hurtt is a lack of aggressiveness or consistent pass rush.
Head coach Pete Carroll also remains fairly loyal to his coordinators and doesn't make quick changes. Coordinators sometimes leave on their own, such as Dan Quinn, but mostly Carroll gives the coordinators four years or so before any changes are made. But one might wonder if Carroll still chooses to be the head coach for a few more years. If he decides to step down, the new coach is likely going to change the coaching staff.
But what about right now? Well, what you see is what you get, and the trends we have seen from the Seahawks over the last few years are likely to stay. This means inconsistent pass rush and mediocre run defense. Seattle appears to have talent on defense, but are the coaches getting the most from it?